As you are student teaching you will have an opportunity to use your wikispaces expertise to create your own class website. This page suggests some things to think about and provides the link to start your free space in just a few minutes.
Why Bother Creating a Class Wikispace?
An obvious question. We will create course websites to extend your opportunities to engage your students in science and to communicate what is going on in your class. You will find that teachers reflexively question adding new tasks to their day, the degree that students are online after school warrants you thinking about you can capitalize on this time for science. Your class wikispace is meant to be a extremely simple website that you can point students for communication and enrichment. The possibilities go far beyond what you will do in this course, but it never hurts to add tools to your toolset.
The target audience is of course your students, but also the parents of your students, their friends, their parents, as well as your colleagues, principal, potential employers, etc.
As long as students have access to the internet, Wikispaces provides teachers with an excellent way to post information, communicate with parents, or provide a venue for students to share their work.
Wikispaces is one of several "wikifarms," or sites that allow users develop their own wikis for either a specific audience or the world at large. Most of these sites offer free and paid sites. Generally, free sites display ads. Because the content of these ads are sometimes triggered by the words on page being displayed, it is generally not a good idea to display them on pages meant for use by students. To support the use of wikis in educational settings, Wikispaces has set aside 350000 free ad-free wikispaces for teachers to use in their classes. To initiate a wiki to use with your students, follow the steps below.
1. Think of a cool name. The name should
capture the essence of what you want your wikispace to be.
be a single word, or a combination of words.
should represent the wiki's content. For example, all your science classes are going to use the same wiki, then you wouldn't call it "Period3Science."
be flexible enough to move with you to another school if necessary.
2. Create your wikspace!
Decide what level of access you want for your site. (Suggestion: Public but only editable by members.)
Organize your site by adding links to the sidebar. Note: New site come with a simple table of contents in the sidebar that you will need to delete before organizing your site on your own.
If your feeling nervous, you can watch the video how-to first:
One of the assignments for EDC 484 is for each student to start their own course wiki. This wiki can contain basic info, it can be place to gather interesting resources to possibly leverage students' online reading time, or it can include opportunities for students to contribute and comment. A wikispace where students can join and contribute provides a venue for differentiating instruction, providing students some choices, and authentic work. A teacher's website can present information, provide supplemental resources, or service as a "learning environment annex" that engages students science-related activities when they are online.
Jillian Boisse, an alumni currently teaching at North Kingstown High School uses her Science Whiz wikispace currently with her classes.
Chris Bergmann's Wikispace is another example of how an online presence can enhance a science class.
Though a blog instead of a wiki, Ms. Baker's ExtremeBiology site has several examples of assignments that get students excited about science. This link goes directly to the "Classroom Connections" page.
EDC 484 Student Wikispaces
Please use the "Edit" button to add a link to your class wikispace to this table:
The Wikispaces Help function. - Located at the top right of each page, and includes videos of common operations.
Quick Wikispaces Tutorial - A fifteen minute tutorial that takes you through creating a wikispace, editing, organizing, and linking a wikispace page, adding graphics and media to a wikispace page, and designating your space as a k12 site to eliminate ads.
Background Information about Teacher Websites and Wikis
Resources that can be used in Class Wikis
Teacher Website Examples
Classroom Use of Wikis
This is a slide show from a presentation by Vicki Davis on wiki-centered classrooms. In this presentation, She explains how and why she has been using wikis in many ways with her students.
Using Google Calendar to plan lessons. John Sowash, in his blog The Electric Educator, demonstrates how Google Calendar can be used as a hub for lesson planning.
Add Pages to your Wikispace
Before you reach student teaching, you should can:
Introduce yourself.
Create pages with lists of science articles that relate to topics that you will teach.
Begin a video collection.
Think of creative ways that you can use your wikispace to make real world connections and challenge all students.
When you begin student teaching, you should add the following elements to your wikispace. You may want to create links to these pages on your sidebar area.
Why Bother Creating a Class Wikispace?
An obvious question. We will create course websites to extend your opportunities to engage your students in science and to communicate what is going on in your class. You will find that teachers reflexively question adding new tasks to their day, the degree that students are online after school warrants you thinking about you can capitalize on this time for science. Your class wikispace is meant to be a extremely simple website that you can point students for communication and enrichment. The possibilities go far beyond what you will do in this course, but it never hurts to add tools to your toolset.The target audience is of course your students, but also the parents of your students, their friends, their parents, as well as your colleagues, principal, potential employers, etc.
Creating Your Space
Wikispaces is one of several "wikifarms," or sites that allow users develop their own wikis for either a specific audience or the world at large. Most of these sites offer free and paid sites. Generally, free sites display ads. Because the content of these ads are sometimes triggered by the words on page being displayed, it is generally not a good idea to display them on pages meant for use by students. To support the use of wikis in educational settings, Wikispaces has set aside 350000 free ad-free wikispaces for teachers to use in their classes. To initiate a wiki to use with your students, follow the steps below.
1. Think of a cool name. The name should
2. Create your wikspace!
3. Get some help to get started.
Links to Class Wikispaces
EDC 484 Student Wikispaces
Please use the "Edit" button to add a link to your class wikispace to this table:
What Should I be able to do on Wikispaces by the end of this class?
Wikispaces provides a secure space for students to find and contribute knowledge. To do this, you should be able to:Resources For Learning to Use Wikispaces
Background Information about Teacher Websites and Wikis
Resources that can be used in Class Wikis
Teacher Website Examples
Classroom Use of Wikis
This is a slide show from a presentation by Vicki Davis on wiki-centered classrooms. In this presentation, She explains how and why she has been using wikis in many ways with her students.Uploaded on authorSTREAM by jenniferlbarnett
Planning Calendar Options
Add Pages to your Wikispace
Before you reach student teaching, you should can:When you begin student teaching, you should add the following elements to your wikispace. You may want to create links to these pages on your sidebar area.